When you’re invited to have lunch or dinner in a French home, the meal usually begins with an apéritif, abbreviated apéro [literally meaning a drink before a meal, but also refers to the food eaten at the same time]. With your choice of drink and a variety of snacks, it’s an enjoyable moment of chatting with the hosts and other guests before sitting down at the table.

When you’re invited to have lunch or dinner in a French home, the meal usually begins with an apéritif, abbreviated apéro [literally meaning a drink before a meal, but also refers to the food eaten at the same time]. With your choice of drink and a variety of snacks, it’s an enjoyable moment of chatting with the hosts and other guests before sitting down at the table.

*You can buy things like walnut wine, orange wine, and lemon wine in wine stores, but many of our friends save money and follow tradition by making their own. These fruit wines are generally a mix of wine, grain alcohol, sugar, and fruit that have been left to marinate for a few weeks or months and that have a higher proof (strength of alcohol) than regular wine.

*You can buy things like walnut wine, orange wine, and lemon wine in wine stores, but many of our friends save money and follow tradition by making their own. These fruit wines are generally a mix of wine, grain alcohol, sugar, and fruit that have been left to marinate for a few weeks or months and that have a higher proof (strength of alcohol) than regular wine.

**Many French people seem to think that Americans are crazy about whiskey. One time, the woman who had invited us to lunch very proudly offered us a whiskey. She told us the story of her moment of panic upon realizing, in the hours before the meal, that she didn’t have any. She was shocked to learn that my husband and I don’t like whiskey at all. On another occasion, during lunch at our apartment, one of the guests gave us a bottle of whiskey (which we of course accepted without making a face).

**Many French people seem to think that Americans are crazy about whiskey. One time, the woman who had invited us to lunch very proudly offered us a whiskey. She told us the story of her moment of panic upon realizing, in the hours before the meal, that she didn’t have any. She was shocked to learn that my husband and I don’t like whiskey at all. On another occasion, during lunch at our apartment, one of the guests gave us a bottle of whiskey (which we of course accepted without making a face).